Teams from all over China came to Zhongshan this year to compete in the National Chinese Lion Head Competition. The team consists of two people underneath the dragon costume and others using drums, symbols, and other percussion instruments to make music. It is easy to mistake the four legs underneath the costume as actually belonging to the dragon. The men jump back and forth between posts with such skill and confidence making the lion head and body seem incredibly lifelike. The dragon jumps from post to post lifted anywhere from 4 feet to 15 feet. Much strength is required for the person in the back. He is constantly lifting the front person into the air and jumping forward setting the front person precisely on the correct posts. This action makes the Lion look like it is jumping front feet first into the air and then back feet.
It is such a dangerous and difficult sport and yet the teams perform with such skill that could fool anyone into believing it was simple. The point of the dance is the Lion is hungry and wants to find food but there is too much danger surrounding him. He must get past all the danger to find the flower and eat. Many teams fell and yet there were also those that put out almost perfect scores. The audience hold its' breath time after time as the dragon drops himself over a post, hanging on with just two feet and then gracefully stands himself back up again.
I had an appreciation for Lion head dancing before this. I purchased the Wong Fei Hung movies and Jet Li is really good at Lion head dancing. He actually takes part in Lion head dances in a few of my movies. It is really exciting to watch on the movies but I have a whole new appreciation for it now.
This picture is of Jet Li playing Wong Fei Hung. This is probably my favorite of all the movies I have bought in China so far and anyone who knows me knows how much I love Jet Li! :)
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